This past week has brought many emotions to the table for the Ashland wrestling team.

After winning the Wendy’s Mid-Atlantic Duals, the men kept up their hard work and went 2-1, taking a loss from Gannon, 21-18, but proving strong against Tiffin, 35-3, and No. 7 Findlay, 18-16.

The Eagles started this crazy stretch with Gannon on Jan. 26.

The team went 4-6 in matches, but the work and effort seemed to prove more than that.

“I felt as if we outwrestled them, but lost two or three matches because a couple of our guys got caught on their backs while they were winning,” senior Dan Genetin said.

Genetin (149 pounds) pinned Michael Krysiak in 55 seconds for his first pin of the season, six team points and a flash of hope for the Eagles.

“We expected to win, but we came up three points short,” said head coach Tim Dernlan. “Some of (the freshmen) seemed a little intimidated to be wrestling their first college match, but they will grow and learn from this.”

This loss only motivated them to work and practice harder for the next two matches, first being No. 7 Findlay on Feb. 1.

Both 125-pound freshman Max Byrd (21-3) and 133-pound freshman Michael Labry (28-0) won their matches, starting the Eagles off 6-0.

AU went 5-5 in matches with a few early losses, but 197-pound sophomore Joe Brandt’s 11-7 decision over Findlay’s Ashton Brown extended the lead from 15-12 to 18-12.

Junior 285-pounder Tyler Houska stayed strong to prevent the pin from Findlay’s Andrew Tumlin ,securing the win for AU.

“Beating Findlay is always great, since they are one of our biggest rivals,” Genetin said. “The match was really intense and going to their home gym and knocking them off definitely gives the team a lot of confidence.”

Coming off that win, Ashland completely dominated Tiffin less than 24 hours later. The Eagles are ranked 19th in the nation and are now 10-5 in dual meets.

The Eagles won nine out of the 10 matches, with one pin and two major decisions.

Brandt (27-2) was the owner of the lone pin of the match, taking down Tiffin’s Alek Hughes. That was his sixth pin of the season. Brandt is ranked third in the nation.

Labry continued his undefeated streak, defeating Mike Screptock 7-4 , and he is ranked fourth in the country.

Genetin took a major decision, 12-2.

Sophomore 174-pounder Bryson Hall defeated Tiffin’s Jake Cramer in a close match that ended in a 4-3 decision. Hall won both matches he wrestled.

Genetin has good feelings about his team.

“The scary part is our team is just now starting to peak at the right time of the year. During this next month, a lot of good things are going to happen. We have the potential to do great things at Nationals.”

The last home meet 7 p.m. Feb. 8 against Notre Dame, who are second in the country. It is also Senior Night for Genetin and 174-pounder Thomas Kerrigan.